Fifth Third Bank said Tuesday it will shed 44 branches and sell five parcels of land as part of an ongoing assessment of its retail banking network.

Tuesday's announcement expands the branch closure plan the Cincinnati-based regional bank announced in June 2015, a process that culminated in more than 100 locations closing. The latest cuts would remove nearly 4 percent of the current 1,191-branch network. Bank officials expect the move to save the company between $13 million and $14 million a year.

By early 2017, Fifth Third's branch network will be 12 percent smaller than it was in 2015. The company cited "changing customer preferences" toward increased digital transactions for the move.

Company officials did not identify the branches it will close but said affected employees and customers would be informed next month. The plan was unveiled Tuesday morning at an industry conference in New York.

"We're mindful that branches are important... but I would expect this to be an annual exercise," said CEO Greg Carmichael to analysts at the Barclays Global Financial Services Conference.

Fifth Third Bancorp shares closed up 1 cent at $20.22.

The compay is the nation's 16th largest bank, according to the Federal Reserve, with $144 billion of assets.

In connection with the branch closures, the bank expects to report a non-cash impairment charge between $25 million and $30 million in the third quarter of 2016. The bank said it could spend between $4 million and $6 million on lease terminations during the first quarter.

Bank officials have pointed to the increase of consumers becoming more comfortable with conducting routine transactions via ATMs and mobile phones.

This spring, the bank said the final tally of closures announced in mid-2015 was 114 branches sold or closed. Bank officials said that branch reduction would save the company $60 million a year in costs.

Five Cincinnati-area branches were closed, one each in Blue Ash, Fort Mitchell, Independence, West Chester and Oxford.

Last fall, Fifth Third's branch-cutting campaign took the company out of two states after it sold 17 branches apiece in Pittsburgh and St. Louis. All told, Fifth Third shuttered 21 branches in Ohio; 18 in Illinois; 16 in Michigan; 13 in Florida; six in Indiana; five in Kentucky; and one in West Virginia.